Nissan warns UK not to exit European Union

Chief executive Carlos Ghosn has revealed that Nissan will reconsider its investment in the UK if Britain leaves the European Union.

Prime Minister David Cameron has promised a public vote on EU membership in 2017 if the Conservatives win the next general election in 2015. But Mr. Ghosn also added that he considered the exit scenario to be unlikely.

When asked how Nissan would react if the UK were to leave the EU, Mr. Ghosn said: “If anything has to change, we [would] need to reconsider our strategy and our investments for the future.”

With sales of more than 240,000 last year, the Qashqai, to be built in Sunderland, is Nissan’s best-selling car in Europe. The car accounts for more than half the output of the Sunderland plant and Mr. Ghosn says the new model “ensures” a lot of jobs in the city.

Mr Ghosn, who is also chief executive of Nissan’s sister company Renault, says that after five years of decline the European car market is arriving at “the end of the tunnel”. He says that next year, the European market should be stable with possibly a little growth.